Holy Rosary Institute, Lafayette, LA

Lafayette is the closest city to my small town, and I wouldn't have thought it had too many abandoned places in it. But I discovered this old Catholic high school by accident a couple weeks ago and went back on Saturday. It's behind a chainlink fence, but there was an old man mowing the property when I went, and he let me wander around provided I didn't try to enter the building. (It's not safe, collapsed floors and such. And anyway it's all boarded up.) I don't know how long it's been abandoned; looks like a while, but things tend to fall apart faster in hot and humid (and bug-y and vine-y) climates like south Louisiana.

(no subject)

I think they're hoping to either re-open the school or use the building for some other purpose some day. Like most "restoration" projects in Louisiana, it will probably never get past the planning stage and just continue to fall apart.

(no subject)

There is all kinds of red tape with the Bishop of the Diocese. In fact, my bishop is from Lake Charles, Louisiana.

I will bet that old building has asbestos in it. There has to be special haz met workers to remove that. I've seen that happen in two old closed Catholic schools they wanted to restore/refurbish and reopen. It cost a fortune.